Whoever murdered the Putin critic who warned he was on a Russian hit list didn't break in, and didn't use poison

Getty ImagesA policeman stands guard outside the house of deceased Russian Nikolai Glushkov in southwest London on March 13, 2018.

Nikolai Glushkov was found dead at his home in London last week, and police believe he was murdered.

Glushkov had warned for years that he was being targeted by the Russian state.

In an update on the case, police said nobody broke into his home.

His death came shortly after spy Sergei Skripal was poisoned in Salisbury.

Whoever is behind the murder of a prominent Russian exile, who believed he was on a Kremlin hit list, managed to get inside his home without breaking in, police believe.

Nikolai Glushkov, 68, was found dead at home last week at his home in southwest London, and officers are now hunting for the culprits. His official cause of death is “compression to the neck.”

Before his death, Glushkov warned that a close friend of his had been murdered, and that he would be next.

In a Monday morning update on the investigation, the Metropolitan Police said they examined Glushkov’s house and found no signs of forced entry.

They also believe that no noxious substances were used in the attack on him, in contrast to former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, who was poisoned the previous week in Salisbury with a military-grade nerve agent.

The Sun newspaper reported that Glushkov was found hanging by the neck in at home in an apparent set-up. Unnamed sources told the newspaper that they believe Glushkov was hanged after death in an effort to make it look like suicide.

His suspicions were roused after the death of Boris Berezovsky, a close friend of his who was found dead in 2013. Berevovsky also appeared to have hanged himself, but police are now investigating his death again in light of the attacks on Skripal and Glushkov.

Commander Clarke Jarrett of the Metropolitan Police said of the Glushkov case: “The investigation is progressing; we have taken a number of statements and have over 400 exhibits which are being processed.

“We have found no sign of forced entry thus far, but the forensic examination at Mr Glushkov’s home continues and we expect to be there for some time.

“I must stress that there is nothing we have found in our investigation so far to suggest any link to the attempted murders in Salisbury and I would like to reassure the public in New Malden that there are no wider public health concerns in relation to this investigation.”